Surrey make it two out of two

Adam Hollioake continued his good form in the Twenty20 Cup by helping Surrey to their second win as many days, against Hampshire. A large crowd at The Oval were treated to some fierce hitting from the two Marks - Butcher and Ramprakash - as Surrey posted 198 for 5. Hollioake then followed his unbeaten 44 from 19 balls with 5 for 34 as Hampshire fell 31 runs short, despite lively knocks from Shaun Udal and Dimitri Mascarenhas.

That victory kept Surrey, last year's champions, at the top of the table following the win against Sussex. At Hove, Surrey equalled the highest score in the competition with a massive 221 for 8. James Kirtley (4-0-63-1) bore the brunt of a blitz by Ally Brown (45) and Mark Ramprakash (46) as Surrey equalled Gloucestershire's total against Glamorgan last season. In reply, the Sussex innings stuttered, then collapsed. Hollioake took 4 for 14 from three overs as Sussex were bowled out for 121 in 17.2 overs.

Andrew Symonds stunned Middlesex with an astonishing 112 off just 43 balls, as Kent successfully chased a revised target of 157 in only 13.1 overs at Maidstone. Symonds clubbed three sixes and 18 fours in his innings, to record the second hundred scored in Twenty20 cricket - the first was scored by Ian Harvey, another Australian, last summer.

Middlesex's innings had been interrupted by rain, and though Owais Shah and Ben Hutton (who took over the captaincy after Ed Joyce injured his hand in a second XI match) batted well, both were dismissed in the 20s. It was then left to Chad Keegan, who smashed 42 off 16 balls, to give the innings some impetus as Middlesex reached what should have been a respectable total off 155 for 7 in 18 overs.

Symonds should have been out when he was on 11, but Keegan dropped a high catch at long-off. He eventually gave Keegan another chance, which he clung on to this time, off the bowling of Simon Cook, but by then the match result had already been sealed.

At Chelmsford, Ronnie Irani opened the batting and proved to be Essex's matchwinner as they beat Hampshire by 40 runs. He top-scored with 36 and struck James Bruce for two sixes in an over that went for 23 runs. In reply, Hampshire stumbled to 95 all out, with three wickets each to Napier and Ravinder Bopara, and a stunning catch by Irani to dismiss Nic Pothas.

Kevin Pietersen carried Nottinghamshire to victory over Durham at Trent Bridge, scoring a vital 67 after Notts had collapsed to 5 for 3. He added 46 in partnership with Chris Read, their Twenty20 captain, and 49 with Mark Ealham, as they successfully chased Durham's total of 120. Earlier, the Durham batsmen, perhaps spooked by the appearance of an overweight male streaker in the eighth over, found the going tough, and only Philip Mustard, whose 64 contained the only boundaries of the Durham innings, and Graeme Bridge (11), reached double figures.

Leicestershire got their campaign off to a good start, beating Lancashire by eight runs, but after an opening stand of 74 in seven overs, they would have been hoping for more than 139 for 9. After Darren Maddy (51) and John Sadler (22) had departed, the spin of Dinesh Mongia (3 for 19) and Chris Schofield (2 for 16) took the wind out of the Leicestershire innings. Lancashire started their reply well, with Mal Loye (28) and Steven Crook (19) putting on 49 in lightning-quick time, but again the slow bowlers stopped the batsmen in their tracks. Claude Henderson (1 for 24) started with a maiden before bowling Loye, and Jeremy Snape conceded just 13 from his four overs, as well as picking up two wickets. Mongia cracked 47 off 36 balls, but the 16 required off the last over proved too much for Schofield and Mark Chilton.

In another rain-affected match, at Derby, Yorkshire squeezed home off the last ball, with Matthew Hoggard the unlikely scorer of the winning runs, as they chased a revised total of 108 off 15 overs. Heavy rain had stopped play with the innings teetering in the balance at 39 for 3, but when Yorkshire took the field again Phil Jaques lead the way with an unbeaten 36. Four run-outs made Yorkshire's task even harder than it was, but after Jaques hit Jon Moss for six in the final over, with 11 needed, Hoggard hit a single to long-off and Yorkshire stole victory. Hoggard was also Yorkshire's star with the ball, taking 3 for 23 as Derbyshire made 133 for 8, their lowest score in the competition.

Darren Thomas was Glamorgan's star at Northampton, crashing 43 from 17 balls to secure victory after Glamorgan's innings had been in danger of collapsing. Jason Brown (2 for 17) had extracted prodigious turn from a helpful pitch, but Thomas improvised well, sweeping the bowlers to distraction, as Glamorgan chased down Northants's 162 with five balls to spare. Earlier, an unbeaten 61 from Martin van Jaarsveld had anchored Northants innings.

At Edgbaston, Brad Hogg took 4 for 9 as Somerset were bowled out for a disappointing 120. After a rain delay, and a revision of the target to 101 from 16 overs, Neil Carter (42) and Mark Wagh (28) added 79 for the first wicket, and Warwickshire were never under pressure.

Gloucestershire, semi-finalists last year, fell one run short in a thriller at New Road. Set 184 to win by Worcestershire, Gloucestershire were left needing 43 off the last five overs with eight wickets in hand. But Andy Bichel bowled Chris Taylor for 36, Mark Hardinges fell for a duck, and Stephen Adshead (81) was caught at long-on. Despite a huge six from Mark Alleyne (18*), the 16 required off the last over proved just too much.